


i want to become gold

by Katyuana



Series: dust // gold [2]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Based on a Tumblr Post, Domestic Fluff, Families of Choice, Family Bonding, Family Fluff, Fluff, Fluffy Ending, Gen, Handwaving of however it actually works okay, Magic, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Smart Angus McDonald, Team as Family, The Stolen Century, Tumblr Prompt, eighth bird Angus, mentions of problems with food and eating (im not sure if that's something troubling for anybody, tagging just in case), the starblaster
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-07
Updated: 2018-09-07
Packaged: 2019-07-08 01:02:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15919761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katyuana/pseuds/Katyuana
Summary: Angus settles into life on the Starblaster, and his bonds with Taako (whose thinly veiled love saved him from the Hunger) grow stronger day by day, cycle by cycle. Angus starts to know the other members of the crew by more than just association with Taako, know them like immediate family.Chapter 1: Taako gives his son a gift.





	i want to become gold

The Starblaster, like the crew, reset every year. The table lost the scratches from the knife tricks played on it, the corners on doors lost scuff marks and stains. Some stayed, like the dent where Magnus and Taako launched themselves against the Captain’s desk in a magical ‘incident.’ There wasn’t a rhyme or reason for why some things stayed and others vanished that they’d found yet. 

The point is that it was the same boat that had launched off with the seven of them years ago. Only intended for a short trip, even the crew sometimes got a little cabin-fever if they didn’t get out to search enough- things like that magical ‘incident’ tended to happen. There shouldn’t have been space enough to fit another.

But Angus fit into their life on the Starblaster with ease. Like he was always meant to.

Magnus liked to gesture when he talked and usually the twins, Barry, and Lucretia were in range for getting a hand to the face; Angus was short enough that he dodged it even ducking. With the whole ship designed for occupants of varying heights, from gnomes and dwarves to elves and humans, Angus even felt more at ease in the Starblaster than he did in homes from his own plane. 

Lucretia liked to read and walk at the same time and Angus never seemed to run into her, even though Lucretia had once tripped over Merle- Taako still thought that was hilarious. Angus claimed he was just very conscious of personal space, to which Taako said it was because he was also a nerd who read books and walked at the same time. (Angus had pouted and Taako had ruffed his curly hair before sneaking a small kiss to his forehead. He didn’t mean anything by his teasing.)

Lup liked to spice her food too much and try to get the other occupants to eat it. Magnus generally ate anything, Lucretia would just eat a ghost pepper if Lup could find one, and Barry was the most fun to mess with. Seriously, the poor guy wasn’t even supposed to eat dairy in the first place, the one thing that’d help him most after Lup’s food. But a hungry Barry would also rise to Magnus’ level of ‘eating anything’. Angus was an enabler to Lup’s goofs on him and would just eat whatever thing she’d made this time like it was cereal, even saying it was a little bit sweet. Barry would just stare at him, trying to figure out if they were even eating the same thing, because the poor nerd’s mouth was on fire. Lup, sometimes, would feel bad and give Barry edible food early in the goof and that meant Angus got an extra helping of spicy food. 

Angus, in the beginning, was pretty sure he wouldn’t ever turn down food given to him. He’d gone hungry too many times to say no to free food. For the first week and a half of being on the Starblaster, he had cleaned his entire plate and asked for seconds, and sometimes a third, if there were leftovers. He’d rush to eat everything, and once almost made himself sick eating too fast. It wasn’t until Taako took him aside and, very quietly, in that same voice he used when Taako talked about when he was a kid, told Angus that he would never go hungry again, that Angus settled a little more. He could just relax. Nothing was a rush to eat, no one was going to take it or chase him away. He could take his time. That… that had been a hard thing to do for Angus. But Taako had promised him, promised that Angus wouldn’t ever go hungry again and Taako wouldn’t lie about that. 

Angus started to become a more integrated part of the crew as they went into the next plane. They’d welcomed him with open arms, of course, Magnus especially helping the twins move things in their room to make space for Angus and Barry mentioning that Angus would need a cloak too now and Lucretia adding him permanently into her logs. Actually, Angus had his own cloak in the week after joining them. Taako’s cloak, it had the length for an elf’s height and also some extra for Taako’s dramatics, and one day Angus woke up to Taako throwing a cloth at his face and saying, “Part of the crew now, bubbeleh.”

Angus had literally just been sleeping but he was a clever boy so it only took him a moment to understand what the red cloth was for. He’d scrambled out of bed and thrown it around his shoulders, excitement rippling through him. It was the red cloak the rest of them wore, and it even had the same patch they had. Angus giggled and spun in place, arms outstretched, and the red cloth swung around him, just as vivid as a sunset sweeping along his arms. He flipped up the hood and grinned at Taako from underneath it. “Thank you!” he chirped like a joyful baby bird, but then frowned a little when something else occurred to him. “Where’d the cloth come from? I thought that there wasn’t any…” Because he remembered Lucretia telling Barry and Lup that they didn’t have any spare cloth over their first dinner together, he remembers their looks of disappointment that Angus wouldn’t get a cloak of his own. 

Taako scoffed, seemingly to try and hide his look of pride watching Angus play with his cloak. “What, you think my magic boy’s gonna be all cloak-less and mess up the uniform we have going? Not on my watch,” he claimed, though his ears twitched too much for it to be the full truth and he ruffles Angus’ hair from under the hood too. “C’mon, let’s go get some breakfast,” he said, turning to his own pile of clothes to grab his outfit of the day. 

Angus was still curious about where his cloak had come from but replied with agreement anyway. He hurried into normal clothes but kept his cloak on over it and went out the door even faster. He waited outside the door though, and kept swinging his arms back and forth from under the cloak, watching it swish and billow. Maybe it was from the curtains in Davenport’s special Captain office? That seemed like something Taako would do. Angus inspected the fabric of his cloak closely. Was it curtains? It looked like Taako’s cloak, moved like his did when the elf moved. He ran his fingers over the patch, watching the gold embroidery shimmer over the circles and the letters. 

Behind him, Taako finally exited the room and Angus turned to ask about where exactly the cloak came from, but stopped- he froze actually, his mouth hanging open and the cloak settling down at the lack of movement. Angus was clever, he was so smart, but it took him a disbelieving moment to connect the dots of what he was seeing. 

Taako had his red cloak on, he did, but it only reached his elbows now, more of a shawl than a robe. His patch looked a bit more worn, a bit more through the wringer than Angus’ and Taako himself looked a tiny bit too tired, now that he was looking at the elf properly. Taako had made Angus a cloak out of his own, and judging by how exhausted the elf looked, had done so with every bit of magic he could. The I.P.R.E.’s patch, Angus knew, was protected by some sort of magic, same as the fabric. Meant to last and protect and move with ease. It wasn’t cut easily, nor was the patch replicated with ease either. 

“Sir?” It had just fallen out of his mouth, Angus hadn’t called Taako sir since leaving his plane but he was just- stunned. He knew his mouth was still open and also something was prickling at his eyes. 

Taako crossed his arms, trying and failing to not look embarrassed as he watched Angus figuring it out. He’d cut his own cloak, more than two-thirds of it, off to make Angus’ cloak. His own cloak’s protections, he had given that to Angus. Adding in extra protections from himself too, some Taako-brand spells that the I.P.R.E. didn’t cover. Granted, the I.P.R.E. didn’t make spells for half of what they’d done since going on an interplanar journey so his spells were more versatile and a bit hardier. Angus was effectively wearing a shield and a half. It’d protect him from a fire if he wrapped himself up in it, it’d help him float if he got caught out in a flash flood or too deep water, Taako had put everything he knew into the fabric and made it stay. “What’d I say about calling me that, Ango?” he said instead of addressing the elephant in the room. 

“Dad,” Angus said immediately, which also served to make Taako drop his act immediately. “You- you, your cloak-”

Taako moved closer to the human boy and crouched to straighten out the robe around Ango’s shoulders with deft fingers. Angus’ eyes looked damp but Taako gave him a small smile, genuine and proud of it. “A Taako original creation. The patch,” he said, tapping it gently, “gives me a signal if you’re ever in trouble. I’ll always- come and help you, no matter what.” He reached out to wipe one tear away as it leaked out of his boy’s eyes. “I made you a promise, bubbeleh. Our life’s not easy and- it’s not the safest, honestly. But I promised you I’d always be there for you and I will be. And if I’m not, for whatever reason, then my cloak will protect you. My _magic_ will,” he finished with absolute resolve in his voice. And a little shakiness too; hey, it was a lot of emotions to verbalize here. Their life traveling through the planes was dangerous and Taako had died before, it’d happen again no doubt, their chances weren’t good for surviving all the time. If he died, he needed Angus to be safe after he was gone too. Of course, the rest of the crew would protect Angus like he would but- Taako just needed reassurance that _his_ magic would keep protecting Ango.

Angus made a tiny little squeak of a hiccup but his smile was so big on his face that he didn’t even seem to notice the tears pouring out. “Dad, Dad,” he repeated, reaching out to loop his arms around Taako’s neck and hide his face in the fabric piled around Taako’s shoulders. Taako had taught him to sense magic and now that Angus was focusing, he could feel Taako’s magic in the cloak around him. It was like Taako was always giving him a hug and Angus smiled even more, whispering, “Thank you,” over and over into his dad’s shoulder. 

Taako hugged back just as tightly.

They’d gone to breakfast as usual, with one big difference of Angus holding Taako’s hand instead of holding onto Taako’s cloak. It wasn’t long enough anymore and Angus kinda liked it better this way anyway. Another difference is that the whole crew almost jumped the two of them to compliment Angus on his dapper new look and playfully tease Taako about his dad feelings. Taako huffed a little but he didn’t let go of Angus’ hand and Angus didn’t stop smiling the whole time. 

Lup gave him the least burnt eggs (Merle had been cooking) as she loudly discussed with Lucretia how handsome a certain someone looked today. Lucretia was a silent partner in this discussion but she was giggling behind her hand and grinning when Lup paused to ‘discreetly’ make sure that Angus wasn’t looking before continuing. Davenport commented that he was glad Angus was as safe as the rest of them now, proving that the gnome had been worried about their newest member too. Though he’d made a light tease about trying to get the new bonds to settle down and oddly, last night it’d only increased in strength, would Taako know why that had happened? The elf rubbed at the dark circles under his eyes and failed to squash down his fond expression as Angus hid his blushy face in Magnus’ arm as Lup complimented him mercilessly.


End file.
